From Beantown

Angela Bradstreet, past president of the San Francisco Bar Association, who has fought so hard to chase off the bench judges associated with the Boy Scouts (because they would appear not to be impartial when ruling on cases involving homosexuals). She's an excited first-time delegate who is convinced Kerry will win, because, she says, Bush misled America on the war in Iraq.

I ask: Does Kerry agree with what your anti-Boy Scout crusade?

"I don't know; I haven't asked him. I'm sure if he did, he wouldn't say so publicly." So sometimes it is OK to mislead?

What is Radio Iran doing here?

Reza Goharzad of Irvine, Calif., is Radio Iran, broadcasting in the United States and Iran. I ask: Whom would most Iranians like to see elected?

He answers: "The majority of Iranians, who you don't see on TV, are regular people, working people, therefore they're for the Democrats." They have formed: Iranians for Kerry.

Who is the happiest pol of all?

Conventions have long served as an opportunity for publicity-happy politicians to schmooze with journalists in the hope of some good ink or placing their face in the TV news. You don't want to stand between those pols and a press pass. (Thus, the Boston Herald's Howie Carr nicknamed Kerry "Liveshot," in homage to Kerry's reputation as a shameless media hound.)

Former California Gov. Gray Davis used to be such man. But Sunday night, at the California delegation party held at the Franklin Park Zoo, the media and the delegates came to him.

Post recall, Davis has become a celebrity. Well-wishers thronged around him -- eager to be photographed with him, receive a prized personalized autograph or bask in the (who would have predicted?) Davis glow. Why is he glowing? No one blames him for the budget mess. "Occasionally, Arnold calls" for advice, he tells me.

If you live long enough, do you see everything?

So that old Al Gore joke about the colorless Davis being a "charisma adviser" have come true.